so i bought this really nice digital scale, it's awful!!!!
i step on and it gives a weight, i step off and back on and it gives a weight that could be a two pound difference. what the heck? so i move the scale to a different location on the tile, same thing. i can never get the same number. so since i am losing my mind with the thing i take in in the garage were i think the concrete might me a more even surface. YEAH RIGHT! same thing......

does this happen to anyone else with digital scales? should i buy a old trustie version? nothing that requires batteries

My parent's scale is like that. Unnerving! My Mom even suggested that stepping on with the left foot first was more accurate! I'd take the scale back and get another brand. What brand did you get? I have a Thinner scaled (Bed, Bath & Beyond) that I spent about $30 on several years ago. No batteries, digital, .5 pound increments and always right on the money!

The only scale that is truly accurate is the balance beam in the doctor's office. Home scales will vary. The best thing to do it put in one place and weigh at approximately the same time each week.

Been there; done that; threw it in the trash.

I use only the doctor style scale that is in my gym. I have a bathroom scale at home (not digital) that my boyfriend uses. That stays in the same corner of the bathroom and we occasionally callibrate it by having me get on after I've weighed myself at the gym and then making adjustments. Our scale is currently "zeroed" at 6 pounds. It's not accurate enough for me to want to use it, but it does seem better than the digital scale nightmare.

If you are really really focused on the numbers, I would suggest getting a different one. Mine does the same thing and so I have to step on it like.. three times in a row to get an average number. Usually it will stick with one number by the 3rd try. HOWEVER, if you don't feel like taking it back or you end up with another scale that does the same thing.. remember that it isn't the exact number that is important, but the general downward trend. So, even if your scale is off a little, if you stick to weighing once a week (or once every two weeks) you'll be able to really track the progress instead of the actual numbers.

The one I have now is very accurate, it's a tanita. I can step on and off a million times and it says the same thing. I did have an old one that did that changing crap and I did as Goodbye Chubby did and threw that garbage where it belonged. Whether or not my scale now is accurate in a Dr. scale type of way, it's at least accurate to itself and that's all that matters to me.

Steph, can you post a link for your scale? There's so many out there... where did you get it??

Thanks a bunch!

I have a Tanita and a Thinner scale, both digital.... both work very well and independently appear very accurate. But the Tanita always reads a pound or two above the Thinner (perhaps that's why they call it a 'Thinner'? ). Trying to sell my Tanita now because why the heck do I need two scales? And the Tanita gulps down batteries.... it's one of those with a body fat monitor too....

Here ya go... http://www.tanita.com/UltimateScales.shtml

The body fat thing works for crap though, but the weight is accurate!

Thanks Stephanie! Appreciate it! I don't own a scale, and just weigh myself at my parents when I go there once a week. but I'm not sure how accurate it is! Would like to get one of my own.

My digital scale is the same way... I just don't let it bother me a lot and I weigh several times a day so pretty well know what it really is. AND LOL I take the lowest number I can get and count it. It does even out, as I can tell when I hit a new low number.

I also have a Tanita digital scale. It is accurate against itself and is dead even with the balance scale. The body fat % isn't accurate at all, though. That measurement WILL give me a bunch of different numbers, but the weight part of it is accurate.

The best advice I can give is to buy a "non-cheap" scale. The cheaper they are the worse they can be...trust me I've been there with my scales before.

What model is yours tiredgrad? I think I want to get a Tanita too. I have a Thinner and it annoys the heck out of me. My was about $30. So I saw a Tanita at Bed Bath & Beyond for $70 that I'm thinking about, but that's alot of money.

I have the same problem, I move it around the room and try and get as flat a suface as possible, I pick a number when it's showin up at least 3 times. Today it ranged from 242.2 to 245.4. But I finally got it to say 244.2 3 or 4 times. So I figure that's it. It changes by how I step on it too or if I'm not balanced on it right or I lean a certain way. So I step on very carefully and try not to sway about.

i've also got the $30 tanita from bed, bath & beyond. I agree that its very accurate with weight (as in it doesn't mess with my mind at all), but i wonder about the body fat % thing too. It seems to fluctuate alot, especially different times of day. I've found it stays pretty steady if i weigh naked in the am though. Other than these scales though, how the heck would i get an accurate body fat % ?